Putin withdraws UK ambassador after accusing UK of following ‘path of confrontation’
Andrey Kelin left his post last month after more than seven years as Moscow's envoy to the UK.
Russia has withdrawn its ambassador to the UK just days after attempting to force Britain to reconsider its support for Ukraine.
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Andrey Kelin left his diplomatic posting on July 21 after serving as Russian ambassador to the UK for over seven years.
No candidate has yet been put forward to take his place, while embassy staff have had no indication as to when a successor might be named.
There are fears the absence of a replacement will prompt a complete breakdown in communication between Moscow and London.
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Tensions between the UK and Russia escalated last week when it was revealed that British manufactured drones had been used by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia, prompting Mr Putin's embassy in London to threaten unspecified “consequences”.
A spokesman for the Russian embassy told The Sunday Times that Mr Kelin had made “considerable efforts to preserve contacts and channels of communication” with the UK and accused Britain of pursuing a "path of confrontation" with Moscow.
“He left Britain in the hope that a more constructive and respectful dialogue could eventually be restored, should the UK reconsider its policies towards our country,” the spokesman said.
Mr Kelin’s departure was first revealed internally a month earlier on June 11, during a gathering at the embassy for Russia Day.
On the same day, in Moscow, Britain's ambassador Nigel Casey joined French and German counterparts for rare talks with the Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, condemning the Kremlin's aggression in Ukraine.
The spokesman also confirmed that the Kremlin has not yet put forward a replacement for Mr Kelin.
“In the meantime, the embassy is headed by the chargé d’affaires," the spokesman added.
It remains unclear why Mr Kelin left his post, but it may signal that Russia thinks Britain doesn't deserve top-level political representation.
While at the embassy, Mr Kelin frequently made headlines with pro-Kremlin statements.
In March, he denied a report by the UK Foreign Office and European allies that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed using poison from a dart frog.
He also rejected the conclusions of an official investigation last year, which found that Mr Putin “must have” authorised the use of a nerve agent which killed Dawn Sturgess after the Salisbury poisoning attack in 2018.
Mr Kelin claimed the British government and secret services had staged the novichok poisonings.
Since Moscow's threats last week over British-made drones being used for deep strikes inside Russia, including warnings from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, no back-channel military contact has taken place, a defence source told The Times.
While a senior diplomatic source said the breakdown in dialogue was deeply concerning. "It's important to maintain those channels of communication, especially between hostile states.
"Communication and de-escalation is the only tool to avoid potentially dangerous scenarios from turning catastrophic," the source said.
A national security source wanred that the withdrawal could be a calculated message from the Kremlin, prompted by anger over Britain's prominent role in supporting Ukraine.
“They are basically saying ‘you guys don’t matter’ and that, frankly, London and the UK don’t count for anything any more,” the source said.